I love my guy!

Jesse is sitting on the floor assembling our new vacuum, and I'm here on the couch looking for ways to distract him. I found a personality game for couples to play on the internet that is meant to find out whether your spouse is more sentimental or practical. I already know about Jesse (Mr. Never-take-your-shoes-off-because-you-might-need-to-go-outside-again) but he loves playing games, so I figured I'd ask him anyway.
"Quick! If you had to evacuate the house right away, what would you grab?" I asked him.
With a level of intensity in his voice that matched mine, he answered, "You!"

A Third Grader's Christmas Letter to Santa

One of the assignments I gave to my third graders last week was to write their very first persuasive letter--one to Santa Claus.
Most of the letters were from children asking for the newest PsP or Nintendo DS. This, is by far my favorite of the ones that I graded. Just had to share it with you!

Dear Santa,
I have been a good girl. So I would like this very special Christmas present from you and your elves. I would like a lot of things from you, but I would mostly like you to work your magic and please get me two front teeth.
If I don't have two front teeth, no one will stop laughing at me. I won't haev my teeth for a long time, and nobody is nice to me about my two front teeth. My gums look too funny to not laugh at. I can't chew fast so I am always last at the table.
Santa Claus, if you don't give me two front teeth, I can't have healthy teeth because when I brush my teeth, it hurts my sensitive gums. People laugh at me when they see toothpaste stuck on my gums. I cut myself when I eat with a pointy fork.
Santa Claus, if you just won't give me the present, I will hear people keep saying it's not the style. When I'm wearing blue clothes, my red gums don't match. My gums aren't cool.
Santa Claus, is all your reindeer excited about Christmas? Does your reindeer have no front teeth? Can the reindeer chew well without teeth?
Sincerely, Braelyn

Merry Christmas!

Decorating for Thanksgiving!

I blogged about Thanksgiving on our other blog, but here is where I get to share all of my fun in preparing for it!

This was the table I set out for desserts. I filled our hurricane candles with cinnamon potpourri and set them on top. Here are my two apple pies...

I found some miniature fall leaf cookie cutters and had a lot of fun adding leaf motifs to my pies.



Our pretty table! (Not exactly the 14 serving pieces Martha Stewart suggested, but I decided to blend proper with practical)



I had a lot of fun creating the centerpiece. Actually, it was a true team effort! Jesse carved out the pumpkin for me, and I arranged the flowers.

It's so much fun to prepare for holidays!

Getting ready for Thanksgiving

Jesse and I are hosting Thanksgiving at our house this year. We decided even before we were married that we didn't want our first holiday as a married couple to be split between one side of the family or the other, and we are so excited to be having it at our house!
I've been looking over recipes and decorating ideas for the last few weeks. It's so much fun to plan something like this. We're expecting 15 people (Jesse's mom, the Mueller clan, both sets of my grandparents, and Jesse's godparents), so a lot of planning is needed! To accommodate everyone, we are having to borrow an extra table, a few chairs, and even a platter for the turkey! Ok, so some of that isn't "accommodating"...it's improvising :)
Jesse and I picked up our turkey today, along with everything I'll need to make fruit pies, casseroles, and even apple cider. Everyone is so excited to help out with food--which is a blessing, because with my tiny little oven, it would take forever to cook it all!
I'm going to iron the tablecloth and napkins tonight and get the table ready. The next two days are going to be way too busy to leave everything til last minute. Anyway, I was just perusing Martha Stewart's website for ideas, and found her "Setting the Table 101" video. I'd love to be as prim and proper as can be, but I have to admit, I laughed when I watched it. Did you know that to properly set a formal dinner table, each guest should have:

a charger plate
a dinner plate
a soup plate
a bread plate
3 forks
2 knives
a soup spoon
a dessert fork and knife
a red wine glass
a white wine glass
a water glass

Wow! Pardon me, but if you multiply those 14 items by the 15 guests I'm serving, I would have 210 pieces to wash--by hand!

Yes, Thursday certainly would be a good day to have a dishwasher...

But who can blame this stinkin' adorable house for having been built before dishwashers were even imagined? I don't mind. I'm just so excited to have everyone here! Gramma and Papa have only been here once before, and Ami and Papa never have. I'm so excited for them to see our home. It certainly has transformed over the last few months.

Thanksgiving is going to be wonderful!

Here I am!

I realized tonight that a lot of what I post on Jesse and my blog, Meet The Brubakers, is more my thoughts than anything else. I started it as a way to keep loved ones up to date on everything that WE are up to these days, but in keeping that as my only blog, I've kind of hampered my love to journal.

I've written faithfully in journals since I was six, and it's been such a wonderful part of my life. As I have gotten older, though, I have less and less time to sit down with a leather-bound journal and pen my thoughts each night. When I fell in love with Jesse, I began writing my feelings on an online journal (and no, I'm not sharing that one with you!) Many of those entries are saved on my other blog, "Dream a Little Dream," which is also connected to our blog.

Anyway, it's time to get back to it!